Sowing for Harvest

Last year the winter seemed to go on for ever.  We had really cold weather right up until June so the things that I planted either didn't come to very much or were very late.  This year is quite different.  Although we have had many storms and very wet weather it has on the whole been quite mild as winters go and things are beginning to grow as spring emerges.  This week I've been to the garden centre and bought loads of compost, canes, seed potatoes and packets of seeds.  If the weather forecast is correct then I will be able to sow quite a lot over the weekend.  At least that's the plan.  Over the next few weeks my garden should start filling up with flowers, fruit and vegetables.

Some things I've moved around in order to make room for other things that I want to plant.  I'm attempting this year to grow a few more, different vegetables than I did last year and other things less than I have before.  You learn as you go along just what works and what doesn't, depending on your individual taste and energy levels for gardening.  We love strawberries (who doesn't?) so I'm making the strawberry patch larger.  We're also losing a small strip of lawn to make room for vegetable plants.  It's really a case of planting things in the required place; sowing the seeds where you want the harvest to be.

I was reminded of this when I read a post entitled Where to Sow? on a blog I follow (Martin Scott)  He puts it very well:

I ask if we have been seeking to sow too much inside the Promised Land and not enough in Babylon.  I wonder if we have been wanting a harvest but have not sown in the right places ..... maybe God is answering the prayers for harvest by relocating many into Babylon.
  
On the whole, I feel that Christianity for many centuries has sown within the system itself.  The emphasis for many is that once you're 'in' the system it's really only a matter of staying there, safe and secure until we die to have an assured place in the eternal Kingdom.  Meeting together to encourage each other and sing praises to God is great but let's not kid ourselves that this is bringing in the harvest that God wants.  The fields are white unto harvest but we stay in the house (of God).  It's almost like we're in the house, looking out of the window at the garden while keeping the seeds safe and secure in the packet on the shelf.  That way we will never have a harvest.  We need to go out there and sow the seeds where they will bring fruit.  So in answer to our prayers, many like myself find ourselves now 'in Babylon'.  Yes, there will be disappointment sometimes; yes it requires effort and work; yes different types of plants require different kinds of nurturing.  There is no 'one size fits all' system or way of sowing, planting or harvesting but yes the harvest is worth it.  

The time is right and I need to get out and sow some seeds - in our garden ... and in Babylon.